MORRISTOWN — This time, the roles were reversed.
After losing two-sets-to-none leads to fall in five sets in the regional final each of the past two years, the Hauser volleyball team turned things around on Saturday night. The Jets rallied from a two-set deficit to post a 16-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-16, 15-12 win against Indianapolis Lutheran in the Morristown Regional final.
“I’m so proud of our team because we didn’t fold,” senior middle hitter Hannah Johnson said. “That’s what happened a lot in past years. We would just get big heads and fold. This year, we had to work for it, and I think that’s really what helped us win this.”
The Class A No. 8 Jets (22-11) advance to face Class A No. 2 Loogootee in the semistate at 1 p.m. Saturday at Jasper.
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Hauser avenged a five-set regular-season loss to Lutheran, the school that beat the Jets in the 2018 regional final. Last year, Hauser lost to Bloomfield in the regional final.
“I think it’s kind of funny that it flip-flopped in that way,” senior outside hitter Marnie Schwartzkopf said. “But I think it’s really great. We’ve been saying from the beginning from the year, we want to win that third set at regional. We said we want to break that streak, and we did it, and I’m really proud of everybody for playing as hard as they did.”
Things didn’t start out well for the Jets. After dropping the first set, they fell behind 14-3 in the second.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh goodness. That’s pretty rough,’” senior setter Aunaka Wasil said. “But I know our team is good at coming back, and we were prepared to do anything to come back.”
Hauser rallied to within 22-17 in that second set. Although the Saints closed it out to take a two-sets-to-none lead, the Jets gained some much-needed momentum heading into the third set.
“I think we just needed to get our energy up and work a little bit harder,” Schwartzkopf said. “We said, ‘Step-by-step and one-set-at-a-time,’ and we did it. “I think we doubted ourselves a little bit in the beginning, but once we realized that we could come back from that, we really gained a lot of confidence from that and went into that third set with that confidence, and it carried over set by set.”
After never leading in either of the first two sets, the third went back and forth, with Lutheran taking a 19-16 lead. The Jets then got a sideout, and Johnson served five points in a row to give them the lead.
The fourth set was tied at 13-13 before Hauser got a sideout, and Johnson served six straight points to put Hauser in control.
In the fifth set, the Jets led 4-2 when they got a sideout and four more points with Johnson at the service line, including back-to-back aces to begin the run.
“We were focusing more on them than ourselves, so once we figured out that we can win, and we just chilled out and thought about it, that’s when we came back,” Johnson said. “I don’t think we doubted each other. We just got the process.”
Johnson led Hauser with 21 kills and five aces. Wasil recorded 41 assists, Kenze Bostic had six blocks and Andie Clark notched 30 digs.
Also for the Jets, Charlie Clark tallied 10 kills, 17 digs and one ace; and Wasil added 18 digs and two aces. Schwartzkopf pounded eight kills, Bostic had five kills, Johnson posted four blocks and Andie Clark added three assists.
“I’m just really impressed that we could pull it together,” Hauser coach Jeff Case said. “We had our backs against the wall, and there’s no room for error at that point. You have to make plays, and they really played amazing those last three sets.”
The Jets advanced to the final with a 25-8, 25-7, 25-20 win against Indiana Deaf on Saturday afternoon. Johnson led Hauser with eight kills, three blocks and seven aces, while Wasil recorded 18 assists, Bostic had three blocks and Andie Clark notched 13 digs. Charlie Clark added six kills and four digs, Adrianna Musillami tallied two assists and Andie Clark served four aces.
